County commissioners supportive of injection well opponents

The Athens County Commissioners Tuesday morning
provided several suggestions to a local group to help in their fight against the
forcing through of a proposed drilling disposal well in Rome Township.

The disposal well opponents are challenging what they
feel are unfair limitation of public input by the Ohio Department of Natural
Resources.

At issue is a pending state permit application for a
deep injection well that would accept waste brine from oil-and-gas drilling
operations. The well has been proposed by a company, D.T. Atha, Inc., based in
Sugar Grove, Ohio.

The public comment period for the proposed well
closed Sept. 17.

A news release from Athens County Fracking Action
Network (ACFAN) charged that now, 30 days on, the period in which ODNR's
Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management should have responded to valid
objections has passed.

Former Athens County Commissioner Roxanne Groff led
the charge Tuesday morning speaking to the current county commissioners,
slamming the ODNR for ignoring more than 70 pages of concerns related to the
injection; the state said there would be no public hearing on the matter, and
stated that instead these issues would be addressed in "terms and conditions"
attached to the permit.

She thanked the county commissioners for their own
letter requesting a public hearing on the Atha well.

"You were also dismissed in your request for that,"
she said. "Mrs. Frost, the owner of the property on which the well is proposed,
is also opposed to it and has retained an attorney."

Moreover, many other citizens also expressed
objections and concerns that were more or less dismissed by the division's
chief.

Groff said that the state of Ohio and ODNR are
continually thwarting the ability of citizens to have input on the injection
well process.

"We write good (detailed) letters, as did you,
expecting to get a public hearing," she said. "Instead, we get this absurd
little form note from ODNR that has no reflection of anybody having read the
letters and even has no mention of what well is being addressed."

Groff charged that this was an "extraordinary" use of
the "discretion" clause in Ohio Revised Code for the division chief to "blow us
all off" and instead just attach some terms and conditions to the permit and
call it complete.

"There's a lot of distress on the part of the
citizens, and surely on your part as elected officials, that we are ignored,"
she said.

Commissioner Lenny Eliason referred to the
"discretion" clause as a "loophole" in the Ohio Revised Code designed to give
the agency carte blanche to ignore public input.

He also noted that ORC has another clause about the
obligation of the state to consider "public interest," and said that by
dismissing the many, many concerns of citizens, the ODNR is ignoring that
obligation.

Eliason suggested the group approach media outlets in
Columbus such as NBC and the Columbus
Dispatch to express these concerns about the ODNR's seeming willingness to
dismiss public concern over the permit applications they approve, including
those of the landowner herself.

In response to these concerns, ODNR spokesperson
Heidi Hetzel-Evans forwarded a response the agency had previously given to
other media inquiries.

She said that the ODNR "takes seriously its
responsibility to respond to citizens' comments" on injection wells.

The way that ODNR wants to handle this issue, she
explained, is not through a public hearing. This is because the agency "knows
from previous experience that one of the best ways to communicate effectively
with affected citizens is to have an open house-type public meeting where
everyone's questions can be heard, which will take place in Athens in
November."

The difference between a public hearing and a public
meeting, according to information she provided, is the difference between a
meeting where the division chief is given expert testimony from all sides
during a hearing, and, on the other hand, where the ODNR conducts a public
information session during a "meeting."

Nevertheless, a "public hearing is not a reliable
model for an accurate and complete exchange of information with the public,"
Hetzel-Evans asserted. "The public hearing format can actually hinder
opportunities for the entire public to be heard and for incorrect information
to be corrected."

She then addressed the concerns that the ODNR has
heard with regard to the well.

With regard to concerns about groundwater
contamination, she said, "In the nearly 30 years of ODNR managing Ohio's Class
II injection well program under a primacy agreement with the U.S. EPA, there
have been no cases of groundwater contamination due to injection well
disposal."

With regard to concerns about the potential for
surface water contamination, she said, "Issues related to surface water
contamination concerns are addressed by permit conditions which require the
operator to construct the injection well facility to address spill prevention
(i.e., the surface facility must have capacity to withhold all fluids contained
in tanks)."

With regard to concerns about potential problems
related to oil-and-gas well conversion, she said, "Any injection well converted
from an oil and gas well is required to have 300 feet of cement above the
injection zone, isolating the injection zone. Bond logging is required by the
operator to provide evidence of compliance."

Finally, with concerns regarding the potential for
induced seismic activity, she said, "Ohio's new Class II injection well rules
mandate that no new well may be drilled into the basement (Precambrian) rock
formation; the Atha well is targeting a much shallower formation for injection.
Additionally, the state's new rules enable the chief to require seismic
monitoring during pre- and post-drilling as well as a number of other
precautions."

"Upon evaluating these and all other relevant
objections received regarding the Atha well, chief has determined that a public
hearing is not required in this case," she concluded. "However, we believe
concerns regarding injection wells are important, valid and critical, which is
why it is even more important to have a public open house to address these
concerns."

These assurances have not persuaded many Athens
County residents concerned about this issue – members of the ACFAN have
promised to continue to call the state to account.